Businessman becomes ninth to be held in Loharia murder

The crime branch on Tuesday arrested builder Bhavesh Gupta for his alleged role in the murder of Vashi builder Sunilkumar Loharia. Gupta is the ninth arrest in the case. Additional commissioner of police (crime) Niket Kaushik confirmed that the crime branch had arrested him in the case. Loharia was murdered on February 16, reports Rahul Mahajani.

The crime branch on Tuesday arrested builder Bhavesh Gupta for his alleged role in the murder of Vashi builder Sunilkumar Loharia. Gupta is the ninth arrest in the case. Additional commissioner of police (crime) Niket Kaushik confirmed that the crime branch had arrested him in the case. Loharia was murdered on February 16.

A senior officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the crime branch unit investigating the case, wants custodial interrogation of the two. Police suspect that after a dispute between builders, some builders hired ‘contract killers’ to eliminate him. “Once we question them, we will be able to unearth the conspiracy,” officials said.

Officials said both Bijlani and Garg have property in Navi Mumbai and have managed to evade the crime branch ever since Loharia’s murder. “The two have managed to evade arrest. On a few occasions, the crime branch even set traps for them, but they did not turn up,” officials said.

When the two could not be traced for several months, the police moved court. The application will come up before the court on May 2. Meanwhile, the police have already issued a lookout notice for them.

In their investigations so far, the police have recovered Rs2 lakh paid for the ‘contract’ from one of the shooters. According to the police, there were three teams hired to kill Loharia.